White Truffle Oil, my new favorite thing.
(Yes, yes. Another crappy iPhone photo)
Food items quickly jump up on my list of favorite things when it strikes me that I really should have tried this wonder-of-my-taste buds sooner. Currently, I am in love with white truffle oil. Why has it taken me so long to buy a bottle? I know why. Because when you’re fresh out of college, making about a nickle an hour and you’ve had the pleasure of tasting prosciutto wrapped asparagus with a drizzle of white truffle oil and you go to the store only to realize that a teeny, tiny 1 ounce bottle costs as much as a week’s worth of lunch (for me, back then, lunch averaged about $3-4/day. That nickle per hour isn’t really much of a fib), well, you quickly learn to put such luxuries out of your head to never think about them again, all the while becoming too comfortable with run-on sentences.
Though I’ve come across it in recipes, the initial shock of the price tag scarred me and I’d glance over it, conveniently forgetting it’s existence. And years went by until I acknowledged it in a recipe (Butternut Squash, Sage and Chicken Risotto - coming soon) and started adding it to my other new favorite thing (kale chips! - also coming soon) and I bit the bullet and bought a bottle, which, was not as expensive as I remember it being. In my memory, it was in the $15-20 range. In my grocery store, it was $9 - and since I really only use a tiny drizzle at a time, this should last forever and, ironically, will be the hardest-working and longest-lasting of most of what’s in my pantry. I’m sorry, my little taste buds. I’ve learned my lesson.
Just the tiniest of drizzles - a few drops really, and all of the sudden, whatever you’re eating turns from mmmmm to wow. It’s fragrance is amazing - because I don’t think I can actually taste the oil itself…it’s all in the nose. So don’t be all stuffy and congested when you go buy some. You’ll thank me later. Actually, here’s a YOU’RE WELCOME for the road.
